Wildfire shuts down Pony Express Road

Contributed

VERNON — Crews are working to contain a wildfire that threatens a herd of wild horses and has shut down the historic Pony Express Road in Utah’s West Desert.

Nearly 200 firefighters have the lightning-sparked Faust Fire about 70 percent contained with help from helicopters, fire engines and bulldozers.

No structures are threatened.

Officials say the Pony Express Road is closed until they get a handle on the fire. It has burned 34 square miles near the Faust Pony Express Station historical marker. Crews are working a flank of the fire to protect the tiny ranching town of Terra. No evacuations have been ordered.

Officials say the fire threatens a small herd of wild horses and scattered bands of livestock.

In all, seven wildfires are burning in Utah, from Washington County in the state’s southwest corner to Camp Williams in northern Utah County, where the Pinyon Fire is 90 percent contained.

Many of Utah’s wildfires are burning in remote locations.

The Seeley wildfire remains the state’s largest fire but is 100 percent contained. The lightning-sparked fire has been burning dense stands of beetle-killed spruce since June 26 inside the Manti-LaSal National Forest, about 20 miles west of the coal-mining town of Price.